Vanishing Breed? : NFL Simply Is Not Doing Enough to Protect Its Franchise Position in Game That Is Changing Rapidly

Imagine walking around even briefly on a broken ankle, much less playing more than half of an NFL game on one. Imagine playing quarterback and having a broken ankle--and backpedaling and scrambling and planting to pass. Imagine how much it would hurt.

“Imagine being that stupid,” says Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar, laughing at himself. A month ago against Miami, Kosar suffered a broken ankle on a sack by linebacker John Offerdahl in the second quarter. “Tape my foot tighter,” Kosar kept telling the trainers. Despite a severe hobble, he rallied the Browns to a go-ahead touchdown in the last minute, only to watch Dan Marino drive the Dolphins to a last-second victory. Kosar felt pain, of course, but he didn’t want to bench himself, then find out the next day he merely had a severe sprain.

“In a demented way, quarterbacks like the contact; it makes the game fun,” says Kosar, who still has a cast on his ankle and won’t return to the lineup sooner than early November. “You don’t want to be treated specially. I don’t know if what I did makes me dedicated, tough or plain stupid. But I didn’t want to let my teammates down and come out and look like a baby.”

Admire Kosar’s toughness, but question his judgment. Indeed, question this macho mentality that dominates the NFL, particularly when it comes to dealing with the growing problem of quarterback injuries. In trying to keep its game tough and fair, the NFL is allowing this prove-your-manhood approach to overrule common sense. Quarterbacks continue to be hurt at an alarming rate, but the prevailing attitude in the NFL is to acknowledge the problem, then say: “We’ve done all we can; these injuries are just going to happen.”

Yet, of all the positions in which the league can ill afford to have problems, quarterback easily is No. 1. It is the exception, not the rule, for a team to be successful with a mediocre quarterback. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles, who had the best defense in the NFL in 1991 but didn’t make the playoffs after losing quarterback Randall Cunningham in the opening game with a knee injury. Cunningham is healthy this season, and the Eagles are 4-1 after losing to Kansas City, 24-17, last Sunday.

The NFL simply is not doing enough to protect its franchise position. The game is changing rapidly. It is being played by bigger, stronger, faster defensive players who are increasingly more capable of delivering crippling blows to quarterbacks, whose body parts--particularly knees and shoulders--are not capable of absorbing the additional stress. Something has to give, and too often it is the quarterback’s body. But when machismo is in and defensive players growl that even the current rules practically dress quarterbacks in skirts, nobody is pushing to improve the quarterback’s lot, not even the quarterbacks themselves.

Sadly, that is a mistake. Rules regarding intentional grounding, tackling behind the line of scrimmage and cheap shots need to be revised and adjusted to give quarterbacks more protection. Plus, teams must take major steps to save quarterbacks through improved pass-protection schemes and by upgrading the athletic ability of their offensive lines. What’s more, none of these moves would threaten anyone’s machismo.

“It is a very serious problem,” says Cleveland Owner Art Modell, whose hopes of making the playoffs dwindle the longer Kosar is sidelined. “The quarterback is the centerpiece of your franchise. You will go only as far as your quarterback will take you. With me, commercially speaking, I can’t expect a running back or an offensive tackle to take up the slack for my quarterback.”

Nevertheless, Modell, an NFL owner for 32 years, has a touch of machismo in him. “We can’t play touch football,” he says. “We can’t take away the quarterback sack or the fans would rebel. We’d kill ourselves if we take out the contact.”

If enough quarterbacks are injured, the NFL could kill itself on the field. A significant talent gap already exists between the haves and have-nots, and quarterback injuries only serve to expand the problem. In the last two seasons, the league has been plagued by a rash of quarterback injuries. Consider:

During the 1991 season, 14 of 28 teams lost their original starting quarterback for at least one game. San Francisco and Phoenix played the season without starters Joe Montana and Timm Rosenbach, respectively, and the Eagles went 15 games without Cunningham. None advanced to the playoffs, in part because of even more injuries at the position. The 49ers lost Steve Young for three games and Steve Bono for one game with knee injuries, and the Eagles wound up using four quarterbacks in addition to Cunningham.

Other franchises suffered as badly. Of the other five teams that lost their original starters for at least six games, Green Bay, Seattle and Pittsburgh failed to make the playoffs. Only Detroit and New Orleans lost their original quarterback for at least six games and appeared in postseason games.

So far in 1992, six starters have been sidelined for extended periods, two others have missed one game and Montana still hasn’t played because of his continuing arm troubles. And that is after only six weeks. That puts the league on a pace to equal the troubling numbers of 1991.

Kosar, Rosenbach (shoulder separation), San Diego’s John Friesz (knee) and Seattle’s Kelly Stouffer (shoulder separation) are undergoing rehabilitation programs, although Friesz is not expected to play again this season. Jeff George of Indianapolis has made two starts since recovering from a thumb injury suffered in the exhibition season. Jeff Hostetler, who has recurring back problems, lost his starting spot to Phil Simms because of the injury, then regained it when Simms suffered an elbow injury in the Giants’ 13-10 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders on October 4.

Green Bay’s Don Majkowski, who suffered strained ligaments in his left ankle September 20 against Cincinnati, now is playing behind Brett Favre. Todd Philcox, Kosar’s backup, is out with a broken thumb he suffered September 20 against the Raiders. The Browns are going with Mike Tomczak at quarterback. Stouffer’s replacement, Dan McGwire, was knocked out of the Seahawks’ 27-0 loss to Dallas last Sunday with a broken hip. Cincinnati’s Boomer Esiason sustained a severely bruised throwing arm Sunday when he was hit by the helmet of Houston linebacker Al Smith in the Oilers’ 38-24 victory.

None of the teams that has sustained quarterback injuries is doing well except for San Francisco, where Young has emerged as a competent starter, and surprising Indianapolis, which is 3-2. The rest are below .500 and would not qualify for the playoffs if they began this week.

“It sets you back, no question,” says Indianapolis Coach Ted Marchibroda, whose offensive plans were disrupted when George went down. Marchibroda, who took over the Colts in the offseason, installed the no-huddle offense he used as the offensive coordinator with Buffalo. When George got hurt and Marchibroda had to turn to journeymen Mark Herrmann and Jack Trudeau, Marchibroda shelved the no-huddle. Indianapolis, the worst team in the league last season, managed to win one of the three games it played without George. George and the no-huddle returned in Week 5 and the Colts have posted victories over the Buccaneers and Jets.

“You don’t want to see your quarterback get hurt,” says Marchibroda, who played quarterback for Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cardinals in the 1950s. “But I don’t see much more they can do to protect the position. You’ve got to let the defense be rewarded too for a good play. You just have to hope you are lucky at that spot.”

But when ticket sales depend on winning performances, and when winning is so dependent on the quarterback, it is a tenuous situation, at best, to rely on luck. Franchises such as Phoenix and Indianapolis, which don’t sell out, hardly can absorb injuries at this key position and not suffer financially.

The league’s competition committee, which studies injuries every offseason, has tinkered with rules that protect the quarterback. Because of the committee’s recommendations, defensive linemen can be penalized if they take more than one step toward a quarterback who has completed his throwing motion and level him. And the referee has been instructed to clamp down on slaps to the quarterback’s head and spearing. Nor is a defender allowed to take the low road and slam into a quarterback’s knee once the pass has been released.

“I think we have done what needs to be done,” says New Orleans President Jim Finks, chairman of the competition committee and a former NFL quarterback. “Our studies have shown that all the recent injuries have occurred within the rules. Plus, there is no pattern to the injuries. If they all came about because of one particular type of play, then you might be able to regulate it. But that isn’t the case. Guys are going to get hit and get hurt.”

Finks maintains that unless offenses retreat from sending four and five receivers into patterns, they are going to continue to suffer quarterback injuries. “You can give him an extra back for blocking and a tight end, and he can be protected,” Finks says. “Otherwise, the defense is going to get its shots in. You better have two or three quarterbacks to survive.”

But Finks also acknowledges that lack of depth at quarterback is one of the NFL’s growing weaknesses. Colleges aren’t producing many marquee quarterbacks, much less supplying quality backups. That’s all the more reason for the league to carefully protect this position.

This attitude, of course, is not shared by defensive players. Enough already, Chicago middle linebacker Mike Singletary says. “I think the quarterback right now is just fine,” he says with a snarl. “I think if a quarterback is going to take off and run, he should be able to get hit and pay the price.” Washington defensive tackle Eric Williams concedes the NFL “has to protect its multimillion-dollar players for the good of the game, but they already are letting offensive linemen use their hands like they are mugging you in Central Park. What more protection do they want?”

Remarkably, those macho men at quarterback don’t disagree. Otherwise, they might be branded sissies by their peers.

“Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt,” says New York Jets quarterback Ken O’Brien, who had started 37 consecutive games before losing his job this season to Browning Nagle. “But let’s face it, the defensive guys are big. People say special treatment, do this, do that. I’m not for any of that. You just have to play the game.”

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jim Everett, who has supported strong action to prevent cheap shots on quarterbacks, says he likes the game “the way it is. It’s a good contact sport. I think the NFL is trying to do the best possible things they can do without setting up a bunch of judgment calls.”

But push these quarterbacks enough and most will concede they would like the NFL to modify its intentional grounding rule. Presently, quarterbacks can be penalized if they unload a pass to avoid potential loss of yards. Penalty: 10 yards and loss of down. Kosar and Houston’s Warren Moon think intentional grounding shouldn’t be called unless it is done while the quarterback is in the grasp of a defender. They believe such a rule would help prevent potentially dangerous open-field hits. Coincidentally, NFL Director of Officiating Jerry Seeman says the league instructed its officials this season to loosen up on the grounding call and not make it if they had any doubt.

Liberalization of the grounding rule is one of three major steps the NFL should institute to further protect the quarterback. Allowing grounding makes sense. The play is virtually dead anyway, so why give a defender a shot when the ball simply can be dumped off? No harm to the quarterback; loss of down to the offense. And the defense can live with the loss of a sack.

Here are two more recommendations:

Ban any contact below the waist, as long as the quarterback is behind the line of scrimmage. Too often, the quarterback is hit high by one defender, then another comes in low to complete the play. The key here is to take away as much as possible the threat of knee injuries.

Toughen cheap-shot violations. If a defender spears a quarterback, slaps the quarterback in the head or hits him late, he should be ejected from the game. No questions asked. And it should be called frequently and consistently until defenders realize there is no more open season on the position.

“You don’t want to mess with your head and brain,” Moon says.

Here’s another change that makes sense. Joe Theismann, the former Redskins quarterback who was forced out of the game after his leg was broken on a tackle by Lawrence Taylor, believes all quarterbacks should be required to wear braces to protect the outside of the knee.

“The technology is at a point where you can devise a knee brace that won’t inhibit your movement but would protect you from shots to the outside of the knee,” Theismann says. “That’s what causes the most damage.”

But Theismann, even with the career-ending injury as a reminder, refuses to push for more rules that would shelter his former peers.

“I’d rather see teams build up offensive lines and find better athletes for the offense,” he says.

Kosar agrees. “When I talk to guys like Jim (Kelly) or Mark (Rypien) or Dan (Marino), they aren’t allowed to gripe about their protection,” says Kosar, who never has played behind a great offensive line in Cleveland. “A little more attention needs to be spent on teams like mine toward getting better protection. Solve that problem and you really will make quarterbacks happy.”

And maybe healthier.